This invention relates to screw threaded connectors, and more particularly to threaded containers and mating caps, lids, and the like.
Screw-type threaded container closures are a well-known method for joining a container to a lid, cap, or other top. Typically, the open end of the container is threaded for receiving a mating threaded closure top. When the top or the container is slippery, one or the other component can slip out of a person's hands. When this happens, the simple task of screwing down a lid is made more difficult and time consuming. If the lid is dropped, it may become soiled or even broken or dented beyond use. If the container is dropped, the whole container may be spilled, broken, or otherwise damaged. Consequently, a person mindful of this concern may take undue time and attention to carefully screw the lid down onto the container.
Also, under many circumstances, the user may prefer to use only one hand to screw the lid down on a container—when the user's hands are otherwise full or the user is preoccupied by other matters, for example. Where the container is fixed or where its weight is sufficient to resist rotating or other movement when it encounters the normal forces exerted on it by the user during the twisting action of screwing down the lid, it may be more convenient and more efficient for the user to screw the lid down simply using one hand, freeing the other hand for other more important matters. Under such circumstances, however, the user may lose the interconnection between lid and container causing the lid to slip off center or slip out of the user's hand, or causing the container to move. Consequently, a person mindful of these annoyances will sometimes use two hands even if this is less convenient and less efficient than simply using one hand.
Additionally, sometimes the threads of a lid are poorly designed or for some other reason not easily engaged with the threads of the container. In these instances, the chances of the user losing his or her grip on either the lid or the container are greatly increased. Also in such instances the operator may find that he or she cannot simply use one hand to screw down the lid at all. In other instances, the user may have a disability of some kind (e.g., arthritis, poor muscle control, poor sight, etc.) and therefore finds it difficult to maneuver a top down onto a container opening with presently available threaded container closure products.
If, however, there was a mechanism that preliminarily connected the container and the lid, the user could attempt to engage the threads without the additional worries of losing his or her grip of the lid or container and may also feel free to screw the lid down with just one hand. Thus, what is needed in a threaded container and mating lid is a mechanism to initially at least partially interlock or interconnect the two so that they are not too easily and inadvertently separated while the user is attempting to cause engagement of the threads for screwing down the lid onto the container.